Harpercollins Rebounds

After a slow start to fiscal 2008, Harpercollins seems to have rebounded and reports sales up moderately from $393mm to $406mm for the quarter. Operating profit improves nicely up $13mm to $67mm.

As quoted in Publisher's Weekly, Jane Friedman noted

"I’m very happy about the recovery this quarter. I thought it would happen, but until it does you hold your breath.” She also noted that the improvement was driven by what Friedman called the “three Ds,” The Daring Book for Girls, The Dangerous Books for Boys and Deceptively Delicious. The three titles are continuing to sell well into the third quarter, and Friedman said the titles should become strong backlist works.

From the Newscorp Press release:

HarperCollins reported second quarter operating income of $67 million, an increase of $13 million versus the same period a year ago, which included charges due to the bankruptcy filing of a major distributor. The 24% growth included strong sales of The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz, The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden and Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. During the quarter, HarperCollins had 40 books on The New York Times bestseller list, including 5 titles that reached the #1 spot.

Given the slow first quarter, HC remain short of its prior year sales and operating income numbers. No mention of HC on the earnings call with Newscorp management which is true to form.